Oakland blocked from suing to keep Harborside pot dispensary open

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Oakland has no right to challenge the government’s attempt to shut down the huge Harborside medical marijuana dispensary even though it would cost the city millions of dollars in tax revenues, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag filed suit in July 2012 to confiscate the Harborside Health Center’s property along the Oakland Estuary for violating the federal ban on marijuana. Harborside, which serves 108,000 patients and is the nation’s largest licensed pot dispensary, is fighting the forfeiture suit in federal court, saying it violates other federal laws and the Obama administration’s stated policy of deferring to state medical marijuana laws. Its case has been on hold while the courts decide whether the city can intervene.

... The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed Thursday that Oakland has interests of its own at stake, but said the federal government has the authority to decide when to seek confiscation of property for alleged legal violations, and neither the city nor any other outsider has the right to intervene.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-blocked-from-suing-to-keep-Harborside-pot-6455974.php